Chance
by Dr. Moon
Summary: Chance favors the prepared mind. Can the NIH team handle each other when an April Fools day prank-a-thon goes larger than life? Please review!
1. Let the Games Begin

**Chance**

Chance favors the prepared mind. Can the NIH team handle each other when an April Fools day prank-a-thon goes larger than life? Please review!

Disclaimer: We do not own Medical Investigation, you hear? We own nothing!

Chapter 1: Let the Games Begin

Rules:

1. Do nothing that could get someone killed, preferably the person you are pulling the prank on.

2. Do nothing that could get someone fired, preferably the person you are pulling the prank on. If they do get fired, oops.

3. No duplicating pranks.

4. No cheating.

5. All cheaters will suffer.

They are the five rules of April Fools day. Follow them or pay the price, but remember, try to have fun.

It started off as small pranks: salt in coffee, switching important papers with not so important papers and so on. Nothing big, nothing to fume over. Simple pranks; planned out in five minutes, pulled out in five seconds, and laughed at for about a minute. Not much else could be said. Everybody was against everybody else and no one was safe. Things died down pretty fast.

Or so they thought.

Eva didn't know where she got the idea, but she knew that she would need help. She could ask Frank and so she actually did, but he said no. She could ask Miles, but then who would she pull the prank on? Eva could even get desperate enough to ask Stephen, but she wanted to keep her head. So she asked Natalie.

The four words, "Will you help me?" changed everything. April Fools day was back in motion and was spinning faster then ever. Little did they know, it would start out small, the two women pulling a prank on Miles and Stephen, but it would escalate into something much bigger.

They would need flour. Lots and lots of flour. And envelopes. Fake names would come in handy, too, and they needed a bizarre return address. Natalie came up with the perfect plan and it was _so_ simple. Simple, but perfect.

Natalie and Eva would take two envelopes. In the envelopes they would put a small letter. A letter saying something so obscene that the women were surprised they had thought of the words. Along with the letters they would dump flour in the envelopes.

Instead of sending the mail through the post office like good American citizens, Eva would slip the envelopes in Miles' and Stephen's cubby holes just minutes before they would come in to check them.

Natalie and Eva would then proceed to watch in interest, not knowing that they would inadvertently start a Prank War.

It was the perfect crime and no one would be the wiser.

Little did they two women know that the men had their own agendas. They sat in the conference room on either side of the round table. Miles and Stephen had decided that one more prank couldn't hurt. Better yet, they would have the last laugh. They conspired and planned and plotted for almost a half hour before deciding that they should put their plan into motion before April Fools day was over. All they needed was a whoopee cushion and ample timing to strategically place it before the big afternoon press conference. It would be perfect.

At the same time Frank wandered around the NIH building looking for some work to do. It seemed quiet. _Too _quiet. He looked around and found Natalie talking to Eva and Miles doing the same with Stephen. He didn't want to interrupt any conversations, so he decided to get some coffee. Little did Frank know that he was about to be caught in the crossfire of the biggest prank war the NIH had ever seen. It was going to be a prank war of epic proportions. They would one day be making movies and documentaries about the survivors and Frank would be first in line to give his side of the story. But, as of now, little did he know…

Not even he would be untouched by the crossfire.

No one would be safe once they unleashed the fury.

Now, when you look at the five rules of April Fools day you will see in small, neat handwriting the sixth and final rule, in pen. The cursive is decidedly feminine and puts the final touch on the prank-a-thon constitution.

6. No backing out!

* * *

_A.N.: Wow! The first chapter of our collective story! Most of this is Sydney's, so most of the compliments should be directed at her. We promise that the next one will be at least a little bit longer. I leave you with this thought: PLEASE! Do NOT try these pranks at home. They are hazardous to your family life as well as national security. Please review! -Sydney and Julia-_


	2. Girls 1 Guys 0

**Chance **

Chance favors the prepared mind. Can the NIH team handle each other when an April Fools day prank-a-thon goes larger than life? Please review!

Disclaimer: We do not own Medical Investigation, you hear? We own nothing!

_Sydney's Note: Our second chapter and first prank, I have an idea, if you reply put down who you want to win, it will make things more interesting (GO GIRLS) lol, we just want to see where you stand. Not the best and funniest chapter, but don't worry it is almost like a pretext, the pranks will get better and so will the disgruntled responses from the pranked. ENJOY and tell us how you think we're doing in our writing as a team.  
_**  
Coauthored by: Moon's Tear and Dr.Who4u!**

Chapter 2: Girls 1 Guys 0

Eva Rossi leaned against the door frame, looking in on Natalie.

"I have an idea." Eva said excitedly.

Natalie looked up from the microscope and cocked her head to the side. She was looking at her thoughtfully, telling Eva she had no idea what was going on. Eva slapped her hand against the cold metal, "Come on, It's early, it's April Fools day. Will you help me?"

"Depends," Natalie said, placing the small test tube she held in her hand on the lab table. "What is this idea of yours?"

"It's a prank against our two favorite guys. I won't say anything else until you agree and we're in private." Eva said secretively.

Natalie bit her lip and once again looked thoughtful.

"Alright, I'll help. Whatever you have planned had better be worth it. I don't want to find myself on Stephen's bad side just because we decided to have a few laughs." Natalie said sternly.

Eva skipped with excitement and grabbed Natalie's arm.

"This will be awesome! I promise it'll be worth it." She said as she was pulling Natalie towards the coffee room.

"What gave you this idea?" Natalie asked, almost choking on her coffee.

She felt like coughing but in fear of calling attention to Eva and herself she didn't dare. Looking over Natalie's shoulder to see if anyone was walking by the room at that moment, Eva leaned forward.

"I don't know. I was looking at my mail and it hit me, well not literally but you get the picture." She said and leaned back, picking up her drink.

Natalie looked at her with disbelief.

"So you got this idea by looking at your mail? Do you know how much trouble we could get into? This is not just some small 'oh look I got you, ha ha' prank. This is big." Natalie said incredulously.

She did have to admit that she actually liked the idea and that it would be priceless to see the guys' faces when they pulled through with it, which they undoubtedly would. Natalie had already promised that she would help and so she was bound to that. Eva shrugged.

"That's why I asked for your help. We need to smooth out the rough edges on this, I can't do it alone." Eva said lightly.

She waved, making Natalie turn around. Frank was out in the hall looking at them with an odd expression. Waving back, he turned around and walked away.

"Do you think he heard anything?" Eva asked.

Natalie shook her head.

"No, he was too far way." She replied.

She looked down at her coffee and realized that she had been drinking it black. Sticking out her tongue in genuine disgust she got up to grab sugar. Sitting back down, she poured it in her coffee, that's when it came to her.

"I know what we could use!" Natalie exclaimed.

Eva jumped, nearly falling out of her chair.

"God! Don't do that." She reprimanded, took a deep breath and then smiled. "What can we use?"

Natalie smiled mischievously.

"Flour. Lots and lots of flour." Natalie announced.

The plan already seemed better. Grabbing their coffee, both ran out of the room. It was time to get started.

The plan was simple and the objective was to scare Stephen and Miles. Not by jumping out from behind something, but by sending them something that they could recognize immediately. Anthrax. Okay, so they weren't going to send them _real_ anthrax. That's what the flour was for. Eva was to find the flour and Natalie was to get the envelopes, both were busy doing their respective tasks.

Eva sped walked towards the cafeteria. She had to hurry; Natalie would be waiting for her by the time she was done. When she entered it, Eva saw that the kitchen was empty. Good, it would make things a lot easier. Slipping up one of the many empty aisles, Eva made it there in seconds. Stepping onto the checkerboard floor Eva cringed, looking down she saw that there was now someone's old piece of gum on the bottom of her shoe. Gross! Putting her foot down on the ground, Eva tried to ignore the sticking feeling every time she took a step. That's when she found the flour. She let out a sigh of relief. As silly as it sounds, Eva had been fearing that there were guards stationed around it with an alarm. Silly, I told you. Running she grabbed it and continued out of the kitchen. Half way to her destination Eva ran into Frank. Looking at the flour he cleared his throat.

"Planning to cook something are we?" He asked.

Eva frowned. Oops, busted.

"Uh, yeah! I mean no! Crap!" Eva spat out.

Frank frowned.

"You're planning to cook crap?" He inquired confusedly.

Eva choked.

"No! Of course I'm not going to cook crap! Now if you'll excuse me… Hey! Give that back!" Eva ordered.

Frank had reached across and grabbed the sack, smiling.

"This wouldn't happen to be part of a certain prank for a certain day? Would it? Cause we all know that pulling pranks on people is bad." Frank said evasively.

He gave the bag back to her and winked, Eva was shocked, how did he know?

"How did you know?" She asked.

Frank smiled and walked away.

"I'm not telling. And don't worry, the secret's safe with me." Frank replied.

Eva cursed her unlucky meeting and continued to run down the hall, straight into Natalie who was running the other direction, envelopes in hand.

"Stephen. Miles. Coming!" She breathed, gasping for breath. "Run! Fast. NOW!"

Turning with the agility that Eva didn't know she had, Natalie grabbed Eva by the shirt and yanked her into the nearest room. The men's rest room.

"Nice one, Nat!" Eva commented looking around. "So this is what it really looks like in here?"

She was rewarded with a shush, Natalie had her ear to the door. Eva joined her.

"Great place to stick us, Nat!" Eva snickered.

"If you don't shut up I'll stick you in a urinal." Natalie growled.

There were footsteps, two sets, heading to where Eva and Natalie had just been standing. Eva now wanted to hug Natalie for her quick movement, even if it had inevitably led them into the no no room. She could hear muffled voices and more footsteps, both faded away. Taking a deep breath Natalie smiled at Eva.

"I've got the envelopes." She said happily, waving them in Eva's face.

"I can see. Now, how about getting out of here before someone has to use the restroom?" Eva suggested.

She did not want to caught in here, not at all.

"Good idea," Natalie muttered pulling open the door.

The hall was empty. Tiptoeing, Natalie made it over to the women's restroom, waving Eva over.

"What are you doing?" Eva whispered harshly, following her.

Did Natalie have to go the bathroom or something? And if she did, why was she making Eva come with her?

"Eva, this is the only place Stephen and Miles can't come, so there is a zero percent chance that we would be caught putting together a prank by them in there." Natalie explained and grabbed Eva's arm, yanking her in.

"I don't know," Eva muttered grudgingly. "What if they just so happen have to throw themselves into a room while running away from someone?"

Natalie rolled her eyes.

"What are the chances of that happening?" She asked.

"Seeing what we just did, pretty good," Eva reasoned.

Eva set down the flour and looked around. There was a shelf sticking out from the far wall. Eva had always wondered why that was in there, now she didn't question the fact and was just thankful. Grabbing the bag of flour she pointed to the shelf.

"Lets put it together over there, you've got a pen right?" Eva asked.

Natalie nodded and walked over, laying the envelopes out.

"Alright, we have to make this look like they were really mailed, that means we need a return address, and it's not going to be mine," Natalie said firmly.

She pulled out a pen and started writing Stephen's and Miles' names on the envelopes. Eva shook her head.

"I don't know. We're not using mine, either," Eva replied.

They stood there for a few minutes trying to figure it out. Natalie began to smile, taking her pen she wrote down a return address, Eva looked over and nearly started laughing, it was Stephen's.

"Why are you putting his down?" Eva inquired.

Natalie shook her head and shrugged.

"I don't know, just in case. Now they can't blame it on us. Write them a note, and put flour in the envelopes. I want to get this over with." Natalie reasoned.

Eva complied, writing down the notes and sticking them in the envelopes.

"Who's going to put them in their mail slots?" Eva asked.

The look Natalie gave her wasn't good.

"Fine, I'll do it. But only because I'm afraid of you," Eva said jokingly.

Both women laughed. Natalie grabbed the flour and tossed it into one of the stalls. She went inside, locked the door and crawled out under it. She took a piece of paper and wrote 'out of order' on it. She took tape and stuck the note to the door.

"Just in case," was her response to Eva's unasked question.

Sticking their heads out of the bathroom to make sure no on was walking down the hall, both women prepared themselves to run. Natalie went first, just in case they ran into their victims. They didn't and Eva made it safely to the mail room. Quickly so as not to get caught, Eva tossed the envelopes into the right slots and exited the room. Right as she made it to their hiding spot she heard Miles' voice.

"This will be great. Hey Stephen, look, we've got mail," Miles commented.

Natalie let out a sigh. That was close.

Natalie didn't know what was worse, actually preparing for the prank or the outcome. It had been funny watching Stephen and Miles' faces when they opened the envelopes. It had been even funnier to watch them freak out, but what they did next was not so fun.

They called the police.

Natalie had to stop herself from coming out with the truth. She had been expecting this. She knew something like this would happen. So why the heck was she so afraid of getting caught? Looking in on the room, Natalie saw what was happening. Eva leaned in next to her. Both women kept quiet.

"Sir, what did you say you found in your mail?" The policeman asked.

He didn't look too excited, not to mention the fact that he stood about ten feet away from both Stephen and Miles.

Stephen, who was still stupidly holding the envelope, decided to answer.

"I think it's anthrax." He deadpanned.

Miles swallowed hard, he looked like he was ready to wet himself. Eva tried not to laugh.

"You _think_ it's anthrax?" The police officer said, not looking too convinced.

"Yes, we _think_ it's anthrax." Stephen replied.

There was a demonic look in Stephen's eye. Natalie didn't know, but if it was there then maybe it was a good thing the police officer was standing so far away.

"We just don't know who sent it to us, and the letter that came with it is, well just read it." Stephen said as he thrust the piece of paper towards the officer.

"I'm not touching that! If it does really have anthrax on it I don't want to breath it in. Read it out loud." The cop instructed, freaking out.

Stephen looked at Miles.

"You heard him, read it out loud." Stephen ordered.

Miles looked at him funny.

"But he told you t-" Miles was cut off.

"JUST READ IT!" Stephen shouted.

Natalie held in a snort.

Miles took a few minutes unfolding the letter, he didn't look to enthusiastic about the whole reading aloud thing, but when you have a crazed blonde man next to you insisting that you do so, then maybe just maybe you would rather read then die.

"The note says… Well the note, it says. Umm…" Miles stammered.

"Miles," Stephen warned.

"Right! The note says 'Eat me!' That is what it says." Miles said lightly.

Miles took a deep breath and folded the paper back up.

The police officer looked at Stephen as if he had had a stroke of genius.

"What's the return address? Maybe if the sender was stupid enough to put down their own then we can catch them." The cop asked.

Stephen nodded and looked down at the envelope, then went as white as the flour in it.

"It's mine!" Stephen gasped.

Natalie didn't know but that sounded a lot like a squeak and this had to mean that Stephen was either mad or scared because he never squeaked.

Never.

The police officer looked at him suspiciously.

"How do I know that you aren't trying to start something? Maybe this is some kind of stupid prank!" The cop surmised.

That last word must have turned something on in both Miles' and Stephen's brains because they both looked out the door and directly at the girls. Natalie waved, with a smile, and Eva took the cue and mouthed 'April Fools.' Both men turned a few different shades of red, including some that neither woman had seen before.

"NATALIE! EVA! YOU'RE DEAD!" Stephen yelled.

Both Natalie and Eva ran down the hall laughing like maniacs.

The police officer looked at Stephen.

"Excuse me sir was that a threat? Because if it was I would have to write you up for it." The cop said sternly.

Stephen shook his head.

"No sir, that was a statement. Now excuse me while I go fire those two," Stephen supplied.

He ran out of the room leaving Miles with the police officer. Miles opened the letter again and smiled.

"Eat me! I get it!" Miles exclaimed.

To the police man's horror Miles stuck his finger in the _Anthrax_ and tasted it. With a laugh that a madman would be proud of, Miles announced the crowning statement.

"It's flour!" He shouted.

Turning around he ran out of the room.

"STEPHEN WAIT FOR ME!" Miles called and chased the group down the hall.

The police officer was confused, but then again he didn't want to know.

Girls: 1 Guys: 0

* * *

_Please R&R!_

_Tell us what you think!_

_More soon!_

-Sydney-


	3. Payback

**Chance**

Chance favors the prepared mind. Can the NIH team handle each other when an April Fools day prank-a-thon goes larger than life? Please review!

_A.N.: Hey, Julia here. Please, please do not try these pranks at home! We have trained professionals working on designing and pulling these things off. They are not safe to try on siblings, parents or relatives of any kind. Thank you for your cooperation._

Disclaimer: We do not own Medical Investigation. Yet. One day when we're rich and famous authors, Sydney and I will chip in to buy the show and then we can all have fun!

Chapter 3: Payback

It was well past midnight and Stephen still lay in bed, wide awake. He couldn't believe that Natalie and Eva were capable of such horrors. He shook his head and wondered why in his right mind he hadn't fired them earlier on. All he did in terms of a reprimand was make Eva lead a press conference the following day and put Natalie on paperwork duty for the rest of the week. Frank swore he had nothing to do with it and Stephen had to believe him. There was no crime without proof. Stephen decided that his punishment didn't fit the crime. No, he had to think big. He had to think bad. He had to phone Miles. They needed their revenge.

Meanwhile Eva and Natalie were already tying up their own phone lines, chatting animatedly. They were still laughing about their prank. Even Natalie had to admit that it was worth the scare Stephen gave them before letting them off with a slap on the wrist. The girls finally managed to calm down and were able to talk normally.

"Ten pounds of flour; eight dollars," Eva stated.

"Box of envelopes and index cards; five dollars," Natalie continued.

"The look on Stephen and Miles' faces as they chased us down the hallway until they were breathless; priceless," Eva laughed.

"We should write for MasterCard," Natalie joked.

The girls talked for a few more minutes before saying goodnight and hanging up. They both wanted to be well rested for work the next day. Eva had a press conference and Natalie would need copious doses of caffeine if she was going to stay awake whilst doing mounds upon mounds of paperwork.

The phone beside Miles' bed rang. He put down the journal he was flipping through and picked it up.

"Hello?" He asked sleepily.

"Miles, it's Connor. Sorry if I woke you," Stephen began.

"No, I wasn't sleeping yet," Miles replied.

"Listen, we have to do something about Eva and Natalie. We can't let them have the last laugh," Stephen explained.

"What do you suggest, Dr. Frankenstein?" Miles said, stifling a yawn.

"I was thinking…" Stephen suggested.

At the end of his explanation, Miles smiled evilly and nodded to himself.

"Great idea! I'll bring the whoopee cushion, you bring the food coloring and the syrup," Miles agreed.

The two men bade each other goodnight and hung up. In the morning, they both arrived early, discreetly carrying their prank items in their briefcases. The girls wouldn't be in for another hour or so, but Frank was already in his office, sorting things out in his desk. Miles and Stephen snuck in and discreetly closed the door. The approached Frank from the back, pulled him down into a chair and held him there so that he couldn't move. Frank's first move was to try and jerk away, but after that didn't work, he settled for verbal harassment. He feared that Natalie and Eva had ratted him out.

"What do you want? I already told you I had no part in what Eva and Natalie did to you guys," Frank said defensively.

"That's not what this is about, Frank. We need your help," Stephen began.

"With what?" Frank inquired curiously.

"A few little pranks we want to pull on the girls. We'll let you in first. We need you to play around with some food coloring so that it sticks effectively to Natalie and Eva's teeth. We're then going to put the concoction in the coffee pot. We also need you to come up with something similar that will stick to hair. In the meantime, Miles and I are going to set up a couple of little things in the boardroom where they're holding the press conference later on today," Stephen explained.

Frank raised an eyebrow before agreeing.

"Fine, but if they get mad, it's your butts on the line, not mine," Frank compromised.

Miles and Stephen nodded. At that point they left the food coloring on Frank's desk and left his office. They dropped their other things off in their offices before heading off down the hallway toward the boardroom. As they rounded the corner they ran square into Eva and Natalie. The women had arrived early. Miles quickly stuffed the whoopee cushion into the back pocket of his jeans before the women could figure out what the guys were up to.

"Good morning Natalie, Eva," Stephen said politely.

"Good morning," the ladies replied in unison.

The guys and girls both continued on their respective paths. The girls had no idea what the men were up to and the man were thanking their lucky stars that they hadn't noticed anything. When they reached the boardroom, Miles and Stephen were careful to avoid all of the equipment and the chairs that had been set up for the afternoon press conference. Eva would be the chief speaker and so she would be sitting in the centre of the table. There was no way this could backfire since her nameplate already sat on the table in front of her chair. Miles snuck across the room and inflated the whoopee cushion, strategically and discreetly placing it under the cushion on the chair that had been placed there. As soon as he was done and the prank was set up to his perfection he walked back over to where Connor stood waiting for him. The two men slipped out of the room and returned to Frank's office. They found no trace of him. After searching the building top to bottom for him for a few minutes, they found him in the men's washroom. The same on that Natalie and Eva had hidden in just the day before. He was just finishing shaking up a test tube full of a dark purple colored liquid that looked almost like ink, only less viscous. Frank picked up another test tube with similar contents, only this one a bright green color. He handed the test tubes to Stephen and cleaned up the countertop.

"Here you go, guys. I still don't think this is a good idea. Now, the purple one has a calcium activated adhesive and will stick to teeth. The green one has an amino acid activated adhesive that will stick to hair. I hope you guys are ready just in case the girls decide to fight back," Frank said sincerely.

"Oh, don't worry. We have plenty of ideas. Just wait and see. Thanks for this, Frank," Miles said quietly.

Frank nodded and stayed behind to wash his hands as Miles and Stephen quickly and inconspicuously left the washroom. Miles took the purple vial and Stephen took the green. They would do this just as they had planned the night before. After making sure the girls were nowhere in sight, Miles and Stephen headed in their respective directions to carry out phase one of their prank.

Miles stood in the coffee room. The coffeepot was still full, so that meant that Natalie and Eva hadn't had their morning coffee yet. Excellent. It was still hot, so Miles was careful not to burn himself as he poured the contents of the vial into the coffee. He grinned mischievously as he tossed the empty test tube in the trash and stirred the coffee so that it would all look uniform. Miles silently thanked Frank. The dye was perfect. It was indiscernible in the coffee, had no smell and no taste but would undoubtedly leave an impression with Natalie and Eva.

Stephen snuck into the women's locker room. He quickly spotted Natalie's locker and unlocked it. He had access to all of the staff's locker combinations, so there was no escape. Stephen quickly grabbed Natalie's bottle of shampoo. It was Herbal Essences and it was already green, so the dye would be inconspicuous. He poured the contents of the vial into the bottle and stirred the contents with a glass rod until the shampoo was once again a uniform color. He quickly replaced the cap and locked the locker. Stephen was going to leave the locker room but he heard footsteps in the hallway. Connor jumped into an almost full linen cart and buried himself among the dirty scrubs. He waited for a few moments before he heard the door to the locker room open. Kate Ewing had come in to get something from her locker. Stephen knew that hers was around the corner, out of sight of the door. If he could quickly jump out of the linen cart and make a dash for the door, she would never know the difference. Connor waited for a window of opportunity and made a run for it. After finding himself safely back in his office, albeit out of breath, Connor prepared for the next phase of their prank.

Miles entered Connor's office and found no sign of his superior. Miles closed the door behind him and stepped a little further into the room.

"Connor?" Miles whispered.

"Yeah, I'm down here," Connor replied.

Miles walked around to the other side of the desk and found Connor on his knees on the floor, filling a bucket with maple syrup. Miles took the empty bottles and stuffed them back into Stephen's bag. They finished quickly and Connor sat back on his heels.

"Okay, I'll go keep the girls busy for a while. I'll page you once I've got them rounded up. Then, you go and set this up on top of the door to Natalie's office. Make sure that no one else goes in there until you hear us coming around the corner. When you hear our voices, run for it. Got it?" Connor instructed.

"Got it," Miles affirmed.

Stephen headed out of the office and closed the door behind him. He found Natalie and Eva chatting over coffee in the break room. He gave them a small smile as he sat down to join them, thanking God that he had grabbed the cup of coffee he had bought form Starbucks that morning before leaving his office. This couldn't possibly backfire now. Stephen sat down and greeted the duo. He saw Frank walk by outside the room and wink at him. They had arranged a chance call to buy Stephen some time and the opportunity to page Miles.

"Natalie, Eva," he said by way of greeting.

"Connor," they replied.

"I wanted to let you know now so that you're not in a rush later. Oh, sorry, just give me a second to check this text message," Stephen said.

He thanked God that Frank had gone through with it. Stephen quickly dialed in Miles' pager number and pressed a few other choice buttons to make it look inconspicuous. He then put his phone back on the clip on his belt and turned to face the women in whose presence he found himself.

"Sorry about that. Now, where was I? Right. I want to let you know right now that you should have your bags packed and ready for later. Dr. Ewing might be sending our team out to Orlando where there's been an outbreak of a severe respiratory disease. She said she would send Williams' respiratory team if she could get a hold of them. They're attending a conference in Los Angeles, but they should be able to get a flight out without a problem. Dr. Ewing wants us standing by just in case. I've left the reports on your desks for you to look over if you want to, just to get prepared. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go finish up some paperwork," Stephen said with a look at Natalie.

Stephen stood from the table and heard the scraping of chair legs. Natalie had moved away from the table and stood up. She followed him to the door.

"I'm going to take a look at those now," Natalie announced.

Stephen nodded and accompanied her down the hallway. Her office was next to his and he would have time to make a clean escape before she could yell at him for the syrup. Stephen cleared his throat loudly as they reached the corner to warn Miles of their presence in case he hadn't finished yet. When they rounded the corner Stephen was pleased to see that Miles had made an escape. He was about to enter his office when Natalie put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you coming down with something, Stephen?" Natalie asked concernedly.

Stephen had to mask his laughter with a cough when he saw Natalie's bright purple teeth. They stood out like a pair of headlights on a desolate highway. He cleared his throat again and looked at Natalie.

"I'm fine, it's probably just some flour I inhaled," Stephen said sarcastically with a pointed glare at Natalie.

"Well, if you come down with anything else let me know," Natalie replied sincerely.

"Will do," Stephen replied.

He quickly took cover in his office and shut the door, giving the lock a twist to ensure that Natalie couldn't get in when she found herself on the wrong end of their prank. Stephen turned around and found Miles sitting in his desk chair.

"Well? Did you do it?" Stephen asked.

"Yes, I did it and then I took cover in here. I figured I'd be safe from her wrath if she had to go around you to get to me," Miles laughed. "If all goes well she should be covered in syrup in three, two, one."

At that moment both men heard a clunking noise as the bucket hit the floor and a scream as Natalie found herself covered in maple syrup. The sticky mess would wreak havoc on her hair which would lead to phase three of their prank. A split second later Natalie was banging her fists on Stephen's office door and yelling.

"You're going to have to open this door at some point, Stephen, and when you do I swear to God you'll wish you never messed with me," Natalie shrieked.

The two men laughed hysterically until they were sure Natalie had gone to wash her hair. They carefully opened Stephen's office door and looked out around the corner. The coast was clear. Miles grabbed the bucket and headed off to wash it out as Stephen mopped the syrup trail Natalie had left behind off of the floor and the walls. After they finished the two men went to the boardroom. The press conference should be starting in a few minutes. They slipped in at the back of the room silently and took their places at either side of the room. The media had all of their cameras and microphones set up and were waiting for the panel to enter through the door at the side of the room. After a few tense minutes the panel filed in, a couple of board members followed by Eva followed by a couple more board members. They all took their seats and Eva turned a furious shade of scarlet when the whoopee cushion deflated. The noise was audible and sounded very convincing. Stephen and Miles were doubled over in silent laughter. Eva tried to get her rage under control and go on like nothing had happened. Unfortunately, the press conference was being televised live, coast to coast. Miles and Stephen watched her intently as she spoke.

"Good afternoon everyone. My name is Eva Rossi and I am a publicity liaison for the National Institutes of Health," Eva began.

Miles and Stephen saw her trying her best not to let her teeth show. So she knew about the purple dye. This had both men clutching their sides and trying not to cry with laughter. They watched the press conference for a few more minutes seeing vividly her purple teeth despite her efforts to conceal them. Frank was a genius. Apparently Eva would have to wait for about a week until the enzymes in her saliva finally digested the dye. Not even toothpaste would take it off. The two men quietly exited the room and headed down the hallway back to Stephen's office. On their way around the corner they ran into Natalie. She had showered, washed her hair and blow dried it. The green dye in the shampoo made her look like she had spinach for hair. The two men burst out laughing and almost collapsed onto the floor. Natalie glared at them with a homicidal twinkle in her eyes.

"You think this is funny? I ran into Eva before the press conference. Apparently we both have purple teeth. Tell me, did you put green dye in her shampoo, too? I'm going to warn her, just in case. The anthrax prank we pulled was funny, this is just downright horrible. I can't believe you two! How long will these dyes last?" Natalie asked angrily.

"The teeth will be purple for about a week. I'm pretty sure you know by now that toothpaste won't get it off. The hair dye, three to four washes with regular, uncolored shampoo. What? We had to get you back for the anthrax prank! We could have been arrested whereas you're just going to look like clowns for a few days. It's almost the weekend, this isn't such a tragedy," Stephen said, still laughing.

"Let me dye your hair green and then tell me it's not a tragedy," Natalie snarled.

She punched him hard in the shoulder before turning to storm off down the hallway. She stopped when she heard Eva's furious voice drift down the corridor. She turned around and saw the other woman approach from the other side of the hall. The two women closed in on the men. They looked like deer caught in someone's headlights. Eva stormed up and slapped Miles hard across the face. Apparently he had forgotten to cross out the 'property of Miles McCabe' written on the back of the whoopee cushion.

"The nerve you have, doing that to me! You made a fool out of me on national television! How could you? I understand that you wanted revenge for the anthrax prank and yes, it was my idea, but this! I can't believe you! If it had sounded fake, like a prank fart then it wouldn't have bothered me but it sounded so real!" Eva shouted furiously.

She was turning crimson just thinking about it.

"And the purple dye in our coffee! How long will it take?" Eva asked.

"A week, more or less," Miles replied.

Eva sighed exasperatedly and turned to face Natalie. The two women stormed off down the hallway, already planning their next prank. At that same moment, Stephen and Miles burst out laughing. Stephen loved having seniority. They couldn't do anything about the pranks, except maybe hate him for a while or go and tattle to Kate. Either way, Stephen could handle it. They would undoubtedly seek revenge, but he would make sure that he and Miles were prepared. A moment later, Frank rounded the corner after having run into the angry women. He looked slightly frightened.

"Man, what they just threatened is worse than castration," Frank deadpanned. "I hope you guys know what you've just done. You've started a prank war of epic proportions. We're all going to end up on the wrong end of a joy buzzer one of these days and everyone is going to blame it on you two. I just hope you're ready. What they were planning didn't sound pretty at all. I'm never, ever, ever helping you guys out again."

Frank shook his head and walked off down the hallway. Stephen and Miles realized that he was right. Eva and Natalie would want their revenge, no doubt about it. All they had to do was stay one step ahead of the girls. If that meant kidnapping and interrogation Frank, well then, they would do whatever it took. In the meantime they had to sit down and start seriously planning out their next prank. Yes, revenge is sweet. Unfortunately, it comes with a large price tag, like, say, revenge from the other side? With that vendetta comes another price tag.

Dignity.

Girls 1 Guys 1

* * *

_A.N.: How was that one? As usual, thanks for reading guys and please, tell us what you think of the story so far! We'd love to hear your opinions on who should win the prank war and what kind of pranks this war should involve. Thanks and please review! -JnS- _


	4. When in Doubt Superglue it

**Chance**

**_Sydney's Note:_** _ILLINOIS LOST! NO: ( I'm sad, so close, NC had a good game, though. Enough of basketball now to MI. Natalie's and Eva's turn._

**_Disclaimer_**: Not our show or characters. At least not yet. (Evil grin) We are working on that.

Chapter 4: When in Doubt… Superglue it.

"I've used every whitening tooth paste and strips that I could think of and my teeth are still a light purple. Natalie, " Eva whined, "how did you get the dye off?"

She had a hand over her mouth as she spoke. She would never drink coffee at work unless she had brewed it herself. It had now been a day since the guys' pranks had colorfully scared them.

Natalie, whose teeth were whiter then ever before smiled, "I was lucky enough to have a dentist appointment yesterday. I don't know what the dentist did, but thank God he did it." Natalie said, laughing.

Natalie, herself, was not left unscarred. Her hair was a mix of brown, light green, and yellow. Yesterday she had been blinded by anger and nearly used her contaminated shampoo to wash her hair. When she realized her near mistake she had raided Kate's locker and used hers. They dye still hadn't come out.

"'It should come out in six to seven washes' my butt!" She snarled, "I used all of Kate's shampoo and then went home and used all of mine."

Natalie ran her hand over the bandana that concealed most of her hair. They needed a comeback. One so harsh that Stephen and Miles would regret that they ever messed with them. Had both women known that the Anthrax prank would result in this, then they would have actually gotten Stephen arrested.

It was an hour before her shift. Natalie had made sure that Eva got there at the right time. Frank was keeping the others busy. It was a plea to keep his own butt safe and not incur the girls' wrath. It was a very good idea.

"What will we need?" Eva asked.

She wanted Miles' head, preferably on a platter. If not that then have the honor of shoving the whoopee cushion down his throat would be fun.

"I've already got what I need. You'll be in charge of Miles, I'll get Stephen. He'll find himself _stuck_ in a rather uncomfortable position." Natalie smirked.

She would have a lot of fun.

This left Eva raking for a prank of her own. What could she do to get Miles back? What would make him squirm, better yet, beg for mercy? Eva had the perfect idea.

"Alright, meet you back here in an hour?" Eva asked.

Natalie shook her head.

"No, I'll be a little longer then that," She replied. "Lets get to work."

For the girls, shift started an hour earlier then usual.

Natalie's supplies consisted of: superglue, duct tape, baby oil, a feather, a screwdriver and a permanent marker. She had never been this anxious in her life. Her hour was almost up. Her plan: superglue Stephen to his chair.

Taking the superglue, Natalie painted the seat of his chair, the backrest, the armrests, and the floor around the chair with a think layer of superglue. She had fifteen minutes until it dried, or whenever Stephen sat in it. The stuff was heated contact dry and bonded nicely with flesh.

Making sure she didn't step in the glue puddle, Natalie took the screwdriver and loosened the main screw, the one that is suppose to hold the seat and the base together. The rest of her supplies would come in handy later. Now all she had to do was wait for her victim.

He was there in fourteen minutes flat with Frank right behind him. When the other man saw that Natalie was already waiting in his boss's office he cleared his throat.

"I think I'll go see if Eva is here…" Frank trailed off.

He didn't even wait for Stephen to react; instead, he walked briskly down the hall.

Stephen walked into his office, and seeing that Natalie was sitting in the chair across from his desk he was instantly suspicious. Natalie's smile relaxed him, though, her teeth were white. Maybe, just maybe, her mood was good, too.

"Nat," He nodded politely, walking around to the other side of his desk.

"Stephen. How are you?" She asked.

Natalie laced her voice with the right amount of strain. She didn't want to give anything away.

"I'm great. Why? Am I supposed to be feeling anything other than it?" Stephen asked.

Now he was a little frightened. Not only was she looking at him intently but her hands were behind her back, she could be holding something. A water gun maybe? Nope, not that. Natalie had just set her hands in her lap. Stephen couldn't help but feel a little paranoid.

"How did you manage to clean your teeth?" He asked, trying to stop any sounds of amusement.

Natalie glared at him and replied.

"The dentist." She said lightly.

Stephen sat down in his chair, leaning back, a cocky look on his face. It took Natalie all the will power she had not to laugh. She turned around in her chair and shook in silent laughter. Phase 1; complete.

When she turned around again, Natalie couldn't help but notice the look he was giving her. A mix of confusion and suspicion. Natalie just smiled and bit her tongue. '_Wait, Natalie. Wait and let him find out for himself.'_

And find out he did. Within seconds Stephen was thrashing around trying to get loose. Thank the lord he was wearing a long sleeve shirt, if he hadn't then his arms would have been in some pain. Natalie placed her elbows on his desk and rested her chin in her hands.

"What's the matter Stephen? You seem a little-" Natalie began and was interrupted.

"-Natalie, what did you do!" He asked frantically.

He was now trying to move his feet, which the superglue held there as well.

"You better hope I don't get out of this." Stephen threatened.

Natalie stood up shaking her head.

"Impossible. Now….." She perked up quite a bit, "Who wants to hear a monologue?"

She walked around his desk and opened one of the drawers. Stephen was helpless. Reaching in she pulled out a roll of duct tape.

"Nat!" He sounded panicked. "What are you doing?"

He thrashed some more, reminding Natalie of a fish out of water. A really big fish. The thought made her chuckle to herself.

"Stephen, relax, it is not like you can do anything. This is my payback to you. I know you were the one who put the dye in my shampoo. Miles was too busy putting the whoopee cushion on Eva's chair. Besides Kate saw you running out of the locker room." Natalie said in a low, teasing growl.

"But I swear she didn't see me!" Stephen said more to himself then to her, confirming Natalie's suspicions.

He was in trouble. He was terrified of what Natalie would do with the duct tape. He soon found out that the duct tape was the least of his worries. Putting down the duct tape, Natalie pulled out a permanent marker, a smirk plastered to her face.

"Part B: Humiliation. You will get a taste of your own medicine Stephen. Lets see just how long it takes you to get off permanent marker." Natalie said, grinning widely.

Five minutes later Natalie had drawn a large 'L' on his forehead, followed by a French styled mustache, a goatee, and what looked like a rather large mole on his left cheek. Stephen was rendered speechless. Natalie was rendered into a fit of giggles.

"If only I had a mirror," She murmured.

Just when he thought that it was all over, Natalie pulled off a piece of the duct tape. She quietly wrapped it around his hands, the only things he had been able to move. His mouth was soon to follow. A large piece of tape muted his protests.

"Normally I am not this mean," Natalie stated, a large feather in her hand. "But I can't wait until someone finds you! They will laugh so hard. Leaning over she ran the feather up and down his nose. At first Stephen didn't know why, but the answer came soon enough.

Have you ever had one of those moments when your nose itched or tickled but you couldn't do anything about it? Did it drive you insane? Well this is what Natalie had planned for Stephen. Seconds after the feather had left his nose it began to itch. So, Stephen was now glued to a chair and the floor, he had markings all over his face that would take who knows how long to wash off, and his nose itched. He had to admit that Natalie had planned this one well.

Natalie herself was almost in a fit of laughter, she could see Stephen struggle. The chair was rolling around, but Stephen's anchored feet stopped it from going far.

"See you at the end of shift Stephen." She said as she began to walk away. "Oh, I almost forgot."

Turning around she marched back and leaned over next to the chair.

Stephen wondered what she was doing now. The chair creaked, and with a satisfactory grunt from Natalie and a small kick, the base of the chair rolled across the room. Stephen was now glued to the backing of a broken chair in pieces on the floor.

Natalie smiled, her work was done. When she reached the door she looked over her shoulder at Stephen's desk. Except for the muffled sounds coming from behind it, you wouldn't even know that he was there. Grabbing the baby oil, Natalie baby oiled the inside door handle. Just in case he managed to get his feet and hands free. A slippery door handle is a hard one to turn.

"What'd you do?" Frank asked as she walked down the hall.

Natalie smiled and looked at him.

"Let's just say he won't be able to show his face for a few days and I stuck it to him. Where is Eva?" Natalie inquired.

Had Frank not looked horrified, Natalie would have figured he didn't know.

"She is sitting in the break room. She already finished her prank." Frank replied in bewilderment.

"Ah…" Natalie said lightly.

Natalie turned the corner leaving a very bewildered Frank behind.

**45 minutes earlier:**

Running down the hall with all the speed she could muster without falling, Eva chased after Kate, who had just turned the corner out of Eva's view. Eva didn't particularly like Kate, but for this prank she would need her. Who else here had the power to send Miles on a fake case?

When Eva finally caught up with Kate, nearly running into her, she stopped and started gasping for breath. '_This is why I was never in track_,' she thought wryly. Kate finally looked over her shoulder and jumped.

"Whoa, is this respiratory disease spreading through headquarters?" She said, her voice dripping with disdain and sarcasm.

"Ha ha, that's so funny I forgot to laugh." Eva replied, equally sarcastically.

Eva straightened up and stood next to her.

"Okay, I usually don't do this, especially not with you but here goes. Wouldyoupleasehelpmegetbackatmilespppllleeeaaassseee!" She said quickly, almost unintelligibly.

That came out so fast that Kate's eyes grew wide.

"I understood that, but did you?" Kate asked in shock.

Kate started walking again, giving Eva time to catch up.

"What do you mean get back at Miles?" She asked again.

Eva smiled widely and made sure her teeth were visible.

"Purple teeth, whoopee cushion during live press conference, need I go any further?" Eva began.

Kate shook her head and smiled.

"Well, okay, I'm only doing this because thanks to Stephen and Miles' pranks I had to buy new shampoo. Natalie used up my bottle." Kate replied.

Eva pumped her arm in victory.

"Alright, I have an idea," She stated.

Kate smiled.

"Shoot." She said enthusiastically.

**1 hour later**

All three women were sitting around the conference table, laughing. Yes, even Kate.

"You did what to Stephen?" Eva said in between her fits of giggles.

Natalie smiled.

"I glued him to his chair and drew on his face. Let's just say he wouldn't look to good with a beard or mustache." Natalie laughed as she explained.

Natalie had gotten a cup of coffee and was now poking at it with a white straw, making sure it didn't turn it purple. When it didn't she drank her coffee. It was heavenly.

"Tell me what you two did to Miles." She continued.

Kate and Eva smirked.

"He is already a quarter of the way to Nevada. He won't be a problem for more than 24 hours." Eva smiled, "He thinks he has a case and that Stephen and ourselves will meet him there. Kate called the hospital, they said they would play along."

"Yes, midway through the day they will start acting like he has it. Tomorrow Eva will send a text message saying something like 'April Fools.'" Kate said looking out the door.

Frank was standing there shaking his head.

"I have a feeling we're not going to make it out of this alive." He said, looking at them with a stern gaze.

"Way to burst our bubble, Frank. Better watch your back, who knows what could happen to it," Natalie stated, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

Frank rolled his eyes and left the doorway. When would they listen to him? Their loud laughs answered his question.

Never.

Girls:2 Guys:1

* * *

_A.N.: Hello everyone! Julia here. This one is Sydney's chapter, I just beta read. I'll have another chapter up soon! Make sure to review! Thanks! -Sydney and Julia-_


	5. Itching For Revenge

**Chance**

Chance favors the prepared mind. Can the NIH team handle each other when an April Fools day prank-a-thon goes larger than life? Please review!

_A.N.: Hey guys! Julia here! I know it's been a while since the update, but I've been busy! I've been writing some 'Lost' fanfiction. I also promise to update my NCIS fic soon… Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!_

Disclaimer: Medical Investigation does not belong to us. Sad, really…

Chapter 5: Itching for Revenge

Miles stood in the middle of the Misercordia hospital in Nevada. The tests he had run on some patients with an unusual strain of some sort of a respiratory disease had all come back inconclusive. He glanced at his watch and wondered where the rest of the team was. They were supposed to meet him early in the morning, but it was noon and they were nowhere in sight. Miles walked by the nurses' desk and flipped through a chart. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration and worry. Miles looked up from the chart and noticed the nurses all looking at him suspiciously. He raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"What's wrong?" Miles inquired.

The nurses exchanged nervous glances and backed away a few steps. At the same time, Dr. Close rounded the corner and almost ran into Miles. She had been the one to introduce the cases to him. She surveyed him curiously for a moment.

"What is it!" Miles asked, clearly frustrated.

"Are you alright, Dr. McCabe? You look a little peaked," Dr. Close commented.

Miles looked at her like she was speaking Chinese.

"I'm fine," Miles replied.

Dr. Close brought a hand up to his forehead and pulled back as if she had been electrocuted.

"You've got a fever, Dr. McCabe!" She announced.

Miles looked around at all of the staff. He was sure they had all lost their minds. After all, he felt completely fine.

"Really, Dr. Close, I'm alright," Miles said again.

She looked at him worriedly.

"I'd like to get you admitted and started on prophylactic antibiotics immediately. If you are coming down with what these other people all have then we need to take precautions," Dr. Close said firmly.

She grasped Miles by the arm and led him down the hall and into a private room. Miles was completely confused. What was going on and where was his team?

"What about the patients?" Miles asked.

"I'll take care of them until your team arrives," Dr. Close replied.

Miles sighed and gave up. He would give the woman the benefit of the doubt. He surrendered to her ministrations.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at NIH headquarters, Natalie, Eva and Kate sat around the table, laughing hysterically. They had just received a phone call from a nurse at the Misercordia hospital in Nevada. Their plan was going off without a hitch. Miles was now being thoroughly examined by Dr. Close, convinced that he was coming down with a mysterious respiratory disease. The women slowly regained their composure and breathed for a moment. They were all drinking coffee around the table in the board room when Stephen entered, looking confused. The ladies looked up at him curiously.

"What is it, Stephen?" Kate asked.

"Have you seen Miles? It's well past noon and I haven't seen him yet," Stephen explained.

The girls all had to stifle their laughter.

"I'm sure he'll turn up," Natalie said lightly.

Stephen nodded and left the room. All of the women burst out laughing again. Eva decided that now would be a good time to page Miles and let him know he had been set up. She pulled out her phone and dialed in the message before hitting send.

* * *

Miles was laying in bed with an IV dripping into his arm and all sorts of monitoring equipment attached to various parts of his body. He looked around as he heard the familiar sound of his pager going off. Miles picked it up off of the table and read the message. It was from Eva.

_April Fools!_

Miles almost threw the pager against the wall. He pressed the call button by the bed and demanded to be discharged when Dr. Close strode breezily into the room. Miles looked up at her angrily.

"I can't believe this! You were in on it the whole time, weren't you?" Miles asked furiously.

Dr. Close only chuckled as she disconnected all of the equipment and removed the IV line.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Miles was dressed and standing outside of the hospital. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Stephen's number. His superior picked up on the second ring.

"Connor," Stephen stated simply.

"Stephen, you're not going to believe this," Miles began.

"Miles! Where the hell are you? AWOL for half of a shift? It's not like you," Stephen reprimanded.

"Just hear me out. I was set up, Stephen. Eva had Kate phone in to the Misercordia hospital in Nevada to arrange a little 'case' for me. I flew out yesterday evening, expecting all of you to be here this morning. Earlier today the staff had me convinced that I had some mutated form of pneumonia and now I'm standing here with no idea what to do," Miles explained.

Connor thought for a moment.

"I'll arrange a flight out for you later toady. For now just hang tight. Be on the helipad at Misercordia at 4:00pm. I'll have a chopper fly out and get you. Don't worry about revenge, I have the perfect idea," Stephen replied.

Miles sighed as he hung up. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Back at NIH headquarters, Stephen was practically sitting on top of Frank as he explained his plan to the man.

"Now then, listen carefully…" Stephen began.

A few tense minutes later, the toxicologist finally agreed to do Stephen's bidding. It was the least he could do for Miles. After all, what Eva had pulled on him was a prank of epic proportions. Frank stood and left the room, planning to rig the air conditioner in the board room.

In the meantime, Stephen made a quick trip to the joke shop down the street. He returned with an industrial sized bottle of itching powder, a prank doorknob with a powerful battery and a can of sardines.

Back at NIH, Stephen handed the itching powder and prank doorknob to Frank and took the can of sardines outside into the back alley by the NIH building. He put the sardines down on the ground and propped up a wooden crate against the wall. Now all he had to do was wait. After a few minutes Stephen had the perfect opportunity. He kicked the box and trapped two very fluffy albeit dirty cats under it. He tilted the box sideways and picked it up with the cats now inside, meowing discontentedly. He carried the two felines inside and put the box down in the boardroom, under the table. By then, Frank had put the air conditioner grate back on and exchanged the doorknobs. Stephen was careful not to touch the doorknob on his way out. He walked down the hallway and found Eva leaving the washroom.

"Eva! We've got a case coming in. Be in the boardroom in five minutes," Stephen rattled off as he walked by.

Eva sighed and turned away down the hall, heading towards the boardroom.

Stephen waited until she was around the corner before following her. He peeked around the next corner to be sure she was in the boardroom before walking there himself. Eva was seated behind the table, right next to the air conditioner. Perfect. Stephen tossed a file on the table and turned around to leave the room again. He flicked on the air conditioner and shut the door on his way out, ever mindful of the trick doorknob.

Eva's head snapped up from the file as she heard Stephen close the door. Suddenly, the air conditioner turned on and immediately cooled her. That's when it happened. Eva began to feel excruciatingly itchy. She was rubbing her bare arms frantically, trying to stop the insane itching. She looked over at the air conditioner and noticed a fine white powder billowing in with the air. Itching powder. Eva almost shouted in outrage as she manically tore at her skin. She wished then that she had worn a jacket over her sleeveless top. Eva's neck and face began to itch, too. Her arms were getting red and would bleed if she didn't stop scratching soon. Eva's logic finally kicked in and she ran for the door. She grabbed the doorknob and pulled back, letting out an agonized scream. The doorknob was like a giant joy buzzer. Eva couldn't hold on to it for more than a split second, no matter how hard she tried. The electric current was beginning to make her arm go numb.

"What the hell, Stephen!" Eva shouted.

Stephen stood outside the door, laughing.

"That's what you get for sending Miles all the way to Nevada," Stephen said pointedly. "April Fools, Eva."

Eva sighed exasperatedly, not about to beg for Mercy. There was no way that Stephen could take even more of her dignity. At that moment, Eva's nose began to itch. She sneezed violently a couple of times. After recovering from the sneezing fit, Eva glanced around the room. It was silent and she felt something brush up against her ankle. It was then that she heard the meow. Eva rolled her eyes and looked down. Cats. Two of them. Stephen had gotten her good. Eva knew she would look horrible by the end of this. Her arms were red from the scratching, her hands were calloused from the doorknob and her eyes were puffy from her allergies to pet dander. Eva decided that nothing was worth the suffering she was in. She decided to sacrifice her dignity.

"God damn it, Stephen! Let me the hell out of here!" Eva shouted furiously.

"What's the magic word?" Stephen asked, grinning like an idiot.

"Please," Eva said dejectedly.

"Well, since you asked so nicely…" Stephen trailed off. "Give me a couple of minutes. I have to get Frank to ground the current on the doorknob before I can open it for you."

Eva sighed and collapsed into a chair around the table, glaring at her feline companions. She then realized that if she wanted the itching powder to stop slowly driving her insane, all she had to do was flick off the air conditioner switch.

"For God's sake Eva, you're an idiot!" She said to herself.

Eva walked over to the panel on the wall and flicked off the air conditioner. She almost immediately felt the room heat up a few degrees and prayed that Stephen would let her out soon. Just then, she heard a buzz coming from the direction of the door. Eva walked over and stood next to her only way out.

"Stephen?" She inquired.

"It's Frank. Just give me a few more seconds and I'll let you out," he said lightly.

Eva waited anxiously to get out of the room. After all of the horrors she was becoming rather claustrophobic. A few seconds later, the door creaked open slowly and revealed Frank kneeling on the ground having removed the trick doorknob. Stephen was standing behind him ready to burst out laughing hysterically. Eva glared at him as she stepped over Frank and cornered Stephen up against a wall. She stood on her tiptoes as she stared Stephen right in the eyes, a manic glint present in her own.

"When I get through with you, you are going to wish you were dead Stephen Connor. This time you've gone too far," Eva growled menacingly.

She turned on her heel and walked away with an air of anger that almost surged like electricity. Eva continued to compulsively rub at her arms, desperate for the itching to stop. She left Frank to replace the doorknob and Stephen to anticipate her revenge as she stalked off to the locker room to make herself look presentable. She burst in through the doors of the locker room and found Kate talking to Natalie. The two women looked up at Eva and worry creased their brows.

"What happened to you?" Natalie asked the disheveled woman.

"Two words. Stephen Connor," Eva snapped.

"What did he do this time?" Kate queried.

Eva spent a couple of minutes explaining, with a few colorful adjectives here and there, exactly what Stephen had done. It was all because of her little prank on Miles. At least Miles wasn't going to look like a lobster for the next few days. Eva continued to scratch at her arms.

"I'm going to take a shower to get this stuff off. I can't take it anymore!" Eva said exasperatedly.

"A shower won't help. The itching powder is made of the oil derived from poison ivy. You'll be itching for about a week no matter how many showers you take," Kate said apologetically.

"What am I going to do!" Eva groaned.

"Take a shower first, think about revenge in the meantime and when you get out, come and see me in my office," Natalie suggested.

Eva nodded and grabbed a towel and some toiletries from her locker. She needed a plan. Eva thought about all of the cruelties she could commit the next time she saw Stephen and Miles as the water ran down over her body in the shower. Eva absent mindedly rubbed at the itchy spots with a soapy loofah as she concocted their next prank. A few minutes later she was out of the shower, changed and walking towards Natalie's office. She entered with a knock to find Kate and Natalie chatting.

* * *

Miles stood up on the roof of the Misercordia hospital waiting for the chopper that would take him back to NIH headquarters. He was curious about what Stephen was up to. He pulled out his phone and flipped it open, dialing Stephen's number. The older man picked up on the third ring.

"Connor," Stephen stated.

"Stephen, its Miles. How are things back at NIH?" Miles inquired.

Stephen chuckled into the phone and explained the entire situation to Miles. By the end of the conversation the two men were laughing heartily.

"Connor, I sincerely hope you're prepared to take another beating by the ladies. I'm certain that Eva isn't pleased right now," Miles said lightly.

"Oh, don't you worry. I'm ready," Stephen assured.

Miles looked up and saw the chopper heading for the hospital in the distance.

"I've got to run, the chopper's here. I'll see you in a couple of hours," Miles said briskly.

"Bye," Stephen replied.

The two men hung up and Miles had never been so happy to see a chopper in his life. He boarded it and started the long flight back to NIH.

* * *

Eva looked at Natalie curiously. She eyed the syringe Natalie held suspiciously.

"What's that for?" Eva asked.

"It's a corticosteroid injection. It'll help with the itching. It works for longer than the lotion, which I'll give you in a moment. Come on, roll up your sleeve," Natalie instructed.

Eva sighed and rolled her eyes, taking off her jacket. She looked away as Natalie quickly and deftly injected the solution into her arm. Eva continued to rub at her itching arms for a while after the shot and was relieved almost to the point of tears when the drugs kicked in and she stopped itching.

* * *

Miles stepped off of the helicopter and met Stephen on the roof of the NIH building. The two men walked inside and headed for Stephen's office. Stephen sat down in the new chair behind his desk, ever mindful of superglue and faulty, tampered screws. Miles sat in the chair opposite the desk and they both laughed at their misfortunes. Neither of them could know for sure when the end of the prank war would come. They were only certain that they wouldn't lose to the girls. They couldn't lose to the girls. As of now they stood on even ground.

Girls 2 Guys 2

* * *

_A.N.: So? What do you think? Not as funny as the other chapters, especially those written by Sydney, but still good. Please review! -Julia and Sydney-_


	6. Revenge is Best Served Mauve

**Chance**

What happens when the NIH gets hit with prank fever? Find out here!

**A/N:** _Syd here...now it starts getting personal...more laughs hopefully funnier quotes in our fans' point of view...Guys are so going down! Aren't they? We know...but you don't. Being a writer is great. Very small reference to attached, that is all it is... nothing more. Can't be ruining this story with things from my others._

**Disclaimer: **_If the show was ours then we wouldn't be writing this...it would so be a two part episode! Not ours...pranks are though. Got to love that fact._

Chapter 6: Revenge is Best Served... Mauve?

Natalie was still laughing at her last prank. The large 'L' was still on Stephen's forehead., as was the goatee on his chin. The mustache however was gone, not even a small line remained. Stephen had tried to keep out of view from the team...after his prank on Eva he knew he would be praying for mercy anytime soon. The glares and gleams in both Natalie and Eva's eyes proved this.

Eva had to get them back...had to. She still itched, and Natalie refused to give her anymore of the itch reliever. Natalie didn't want Eva getting addicted, or worse... Natalie wasn't even going to think about it. That was far in the past, well not that far... but Natalie wished it was.

The two were sitting at the conference table, eyes on the door. It was well after shift, but they still weren't ready to take the chance. Pranks are deadly to the givers when the receivers know what is going to happen. Frank had gone home early, probably after he had seen the two women laughing over a rather good idea. He obviously still didn't feel too good about the whole prank war idea.

Natalie was thinking deeply.

"What could embarrass them so much that they would want to die? What could we do that would be hard for them to undo? I don't want to pull Kate into this again. She was good about the last prank but I don't know how much more she will be able to take." She asked aloud.

Eva nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. I've been thinking though. The guys bring spare clothes right?" She inquired.

She didn't know what to do with the spare clothes if they had any, but she knew that they could do something. Something amazing.

"I think they do. Well Stephen does at least... He is probably afraid right now that we would do something to the originals so a back up would be great for him. Have any ideas what we could do with them?" Natalie replied.

"No." Eva said flatly.

Both sat there again in silence. A long silence. A silence so filled with silence that Natalie was going insane. Well, more then she already was.

"What is Miles' least favorite color?" Natalie asked.

Eva knitted her brows and frowned.

"I think it's purple. What's Stephens?" Eva replied.

Natalie smiled.

"Mauve." She said, still grinning widely.

Her half of the plan was already forming, as was Eva's. This was going to be better then they thought. A lot better.

Eva snuck successfully into the men's locker room. It took her awhile but she found Miles' locker. She had gotten the combo from the nurse at the front desk, making some excuse that Miles had forgotten it and needed it. The nurse had looked at her skeptically and muttered something that sounded like "that boy always forgets it, maybe I should write it on his forehead." Sadly the nurse had said it while Stephen was walking by, causing both women to cringe at the death glare he sent their way. Eva received Miles' combo quickly, the nurse threw in Stephen's without complaint.

Eva opened the locker and was surprised to see that it was rather clean. He spare clothes were folded and set on the upper shelf, practically saying "Steal me steal me." At least they were washed. Eva made it to Stephen with the same results, a folded pile of clothes on the upper shelf.

After shoving them into the bag, Eva ran out of the locker room into the women's locker room, where Natalie would be waiting for her.

Natalie was there alright. It her hands she held a large thing of dark Mauve dye. Eva snickered and nodded.

"I got the clothes. And lucky us...they packed extra boxers, we can pull out my half of the plan as well." Eva said evilly.

Natalie smiled and pointed to the back of the locker room.

"Let's go to the showers... I've set up a makeshift tub in there so we can dye the clothes." Natalie explained.

She was already making her way over there, in less of a hurry then Eva was. Natalie didn't fear much right now. No man in there right mind would enter the girls locker room. If you are thinking, well hey, Stephen went in there in the third chapter, then don't... Like I said; right mind. He wasn't in his right mind then, but he was now.

Both women laughed as they dumped the items into the tub... Life was good.

Life was bad, Stephen was still trying to get the permanent marker off of his face... His face! Why did Natalie have to put it there? She was vicious, that's why. Natalie was a vicious woman with a compassionate front. Stephen was afraid of her, he was afraid of Eva... Hell right now he was even afraid of Kate.

So when he saw Eva and Natalie practically prancing down the hall, his stomach flipped. They looked happy. Too happy. Happy and smug. He felt unhappy and paranoid. What a wonderful mix of feelings, it leaves one feeling vulnerable and the damn permanent marker was not helping much.

"Ladies," he shouted, catching their attention.

They looked at him and smiled.

"Stephen." Natalie's voice was normal.

Normal is good. No! Normal is bad, normal is the way she was while sitting in front of his desk as he was sitting in superglue. Eva looked happy.

God he was paranoid.

The clothes had been put back easily. Stephen and Miles wouldn't know about them until they actually needed them. The boxers however, Eva kept the boxers. Those would come in handy. Natalie had somehow come up with some liquid heat, their original plan was to use itching powder, but in a way that was duplicating the guys' last prank... That was against the rules. It was just sad that the guys had beat them to it.

It was early the next morning and both Stephen and Miles were sitting in the coffee room, not suspecting a thing. Well, not suspecting a thing right then. Both Natalie and Eva crept up behind them silently a large cup of liquid heat in both of their right hands. Before the others knew what was coming, the liquid heat was slowly moving down their backs.

Miles jumped up with a cry and started squeaking, Stephen was nearly on the same route but looked as if he were dancing, neither man reacted fast enough. The liquid heat made it to their pants. Miles and Stephen were out of the room with more speed then they could account for.

Natalie and Eva were left in a fit of laughter. They had to hurry, though, the guys would be done changing in a matter of minutes. That was all the time they had to do Eva's half.

They were out in the parking lot seconds later. The flag pole was their destination. Eva carried the mauve boxers and Natalie carried the rather large banner. When they made it to the pole Natalie strung the banner to the string, and Eva followed, stringing the boxers up underneath it.

As the banner (which said "Property of Stephen Connor and Miles McCabe" and had a large arrow pointing to the boxers) and the boxers rippled in the breeze, Eva saluted

"I pledge allegiance,"

Natalie whose hand was to her heart, cut Eva off.

"To the boxers,"

"Who served these fair men well!" Both women finished.

No sooner had they finished when Stephen and Miles came rushing through the front doors, in their new mauve attire. They were both furiously yelling death threats. Eva and Natalie looked at each other, screamed and ran to their cars, locking them securely after they climbed in.

The guys gave up trying to get them after a while and went back to the flagpole where they proceeded to try to bring down the boxers. The only problem was…

They couldn't!

Natalie pulled out her phone and dialed Eva's number, when Eva picked up Natalie started laughing, she was soon joined in by Eva. This was GREAT!

Stephen and Miles stood next to Kate, who was looking at them with a raised brow.

"What happened to you two?" She asked sarcastically.

Stephen groaned.

"That's why we're here. Natalie and Eva have dyed our clothes and are currently letting our boxers fly in the breeze on the flagpole out front." Stephen complained.

Miles nodded and looked down at his clothes. If Stephen had hated mauve before then he really hated it now. Kate looked at them and smiled.

"Eva and Natalie did this?" Kate queried.

Stephen nodded.

"Yes." He replied.

Kate grinned.

"Well then, I guess two promotions and two pay raises are in order. Too bad they didn't use pink, then I might have even given them extra vacation hours," Kate laughed.

Miles was obviously slow to realize what she had said.

"Good! Wait. WHAT!" He shouted incredulously.

"You heard me McCabe, stop crying Connor and get back to work! And you're not to go home. This was a long time coming!" Kate said triumphantly.

Both men's jaws dropped...

Well, that sucked.

Girls: 3 Guys: 2 (Not so even now, eh?)

* * *

_A.N.: Hey guys! Yup, another chapter already! Sydney is much better at staying on top of this than I am. I hope you like it! Please review! –Sydney and Julia-_


	7. Quarantine

**Chance**

Chance favors the prepared mind. What happens when the NIH staff members are roped into a prank war of epic proportions? Who will survive with their dignity intact? Is anyone safe? Find our here! Please review!

Disclaimer: We do not own Medical Investigation nor are we affiliated with anyone who does. Clear? Good.

Chapter 7: Quarantine

Stephen sat at his desk, thinking about how to get the ladies back for their last prank. It wasn't going to be easy to top having your underwear flying around on a flagpole and your clothes dyed mauve. He looked at the clock on his desktop. The girls wouldn't be in to work for another hour or so. Stephen grinned. He stood up from his desk and decided to try the coffee prank again. The girls wouldn't suspect it, since there were no repeats allowed, but this time he would put a spin on it. Stephen carefully scooped about three times as much coffee into the coffeemaker as was really necessary and added only enough water to make three cups of coffee. He let it drip as he walked away to plan his next idea. Stephen sat at his desk and suddenly the phone rang. He picked it up on the first ring.

"Connor," Stephen said shortly.

"Connor, its Miles. I've got an idea," Miles said briskly.

"Where are you?" Stephen inquired.

"I'm just pulling up into the parking lot. Listen, can you gather up some duct tape and caution tape and get your computer and the printer, as well as the laminator going?" Miles asked.

"I'm on it. See you soon," Stephen replied.

The two men hung up and Stephen did what had been asked of him. A few minutes later Miles entered Stephen's office and smiled brightly. He sat down in the chair opposite his superior and glanced over the supplies.

"Excellent," Miles chuckled.

Stephen raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Okay, I'll bite. What's excellent?" He queried.

"I've got the perfect plan for revenge. It's going to embarrass the hell out of the girls. All you have to do is distract them so that I can get a hold of their car keys. I'll take care of everything else. I'll need you once they find my signs, though. Just to make it look convincing, we'll have to put them up on our office doors, too. I've already got Frank coming in and running around all day in a hazmat suit all day," Miles explained.

"Sounds easy enough, anyway. Okay, I'll do it," Stephen agreed.

Miles grinned and stood up, walking around to the other side of Stephen's desk. He leaned over the keyboard and went straight to his email inbox, opening up a file attachment and hitting print. Stephen took one look at the sign and grinned, too. He looked at the clock and realized that they had only a half hour before the girls would be in to work. Miles grabbed the prints from the printer and headed off down the hall to laminate them. Stephen took the rolls of both duct and caution tape and left the office with his keys and other necessities. Meanwhile Miles laminated the numerous signs and grabbed a couple of N-95 masks from a box in the hallway. He made his way back over to Stephen.

"Got everything?" Stephen asked.

"Yup," Miles replied.

"Good," Stephen shot back.

Miles handed Stephen two signs and a mask while Stephen handed Miles a roll of each duct and caution tape. They headed off in opposite directions to put their plan into motion. Stephen and Miles both placed large caution tape X marks on both their and the girls' office doors. They then taped signs to the doors in the middle of the X marks. It was perfect. Miles and Stephen put on their filtration masks and met in the hallway between their offices.

"Mission accomplished," they said in unison.

Just then, Frank rounded the corner and approached the two men from the far end of the hallway, completely decked out in a blue hazmat suit. He shook his head as he approached them.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he muttered.

"Nice to see you, too, Frank," Stephen chuckled.

"The guy from public health should be here any moment. Ah, speak of the devil," Miles said.

Another man wearing a hazmat suit came around the corner. Miles grinned.

"Hey John, long time no see," he said happily.

"Miles, my man! No, this is all wrong! If you want to be convincing we need to get you two into isolation and strap quarantine bracelets onto you!" John said disapprovingly.

Both Miles and Stephen sighed. It was a lot to go through but it would be worth it. Just then, Miles got an idea.

"John, what if you put me in isolation, say I'm infected and then let Stephen off the hook so that he can be the one to break this to Eva and Natalie. That way he can have the last laugh when he gets to do the rule out on the ladies," Miles suggested.

John seemed to think it over for a moment before nodding.

"Sounds like a good plan," John replied. "Let's do it."

The three other men nodded. Frank headed for the end of the hallway to meet the ladies when they got in. In the meantime he pulled out his cell phone and called them, letting them know that they had to come in immediately for testing. He shook his head and wished that he hadn't gotten involved. Miles and Stephen followed John down the hall and got prepared for the ladies to arrive. John strapped a quarantine bracelet onto Miles' wrist and led him into a secluded room behind glass. He had Miles put on a mask to make it look convincing that he was contagious. Miles gave Stephen and John the thumbs up through the window. Stephen grinned and went to put on his N-95 mask, a gown and gloves while John stood around, looking official.

Eva and Natalie had gone for coffee before coming into work that morning and walked into the NIH headquarters building together with smiles on their faces. They stopped dead in their tracks when they noticed Frank in his hazmat suit. Neither of them had received Frank's pages or voice messages. They looked at him and raised quizzical eyebrows as they approached him.

"Good morning Frank. Making a fashion statement?" Eva asked.

Frank shook his head and looked at them somberly.

"No, I'm afraid not. You two have to come with me," Frank said lightly.

Eva and Natalie exchanged worried and confused looks as they walked with Frank down the empty hallway. As they passed Miles and Stephen's offices they noticed the large, official looking signs.

**WARNING: ASBESTOS REMOVAL. KEEP OUT.**

Eva and Natalie swallowed thickly. Both women knew what that meant. Natalie was afraid to admit that she hadn't been feeling too well in the past few days for what it implied. She and Eva obediently followed Frank down the hallway to a quarantined off section of the building. They saw Stephen talking to a man in a Hazmat suit. He was wearing an N-95 mask and was fully gowned and gloved. The two women stood beside him and noticed Miles sitting in an isolation room with a quarantine bracelet on. The women looked at Stephen, their eyes pleading for answers.

"You've got to be joking," Natalie deadpanned.

"I'm afraid not," Stephen replied. "We've got asbestos happening here. You two have to be quarantined until we can do the blood work and rule everything out. Come on."

Stephen walked down the hallway with the two women in tow, towards another set of isolation rooms. He let Eva into one and Natalie into the other. Both women were up to speed with protocol and didn't even have to be instructed on what to do. Stephen stepped into Natalie's room a few minutes later and sat down next to the bed. The questioning begins.

"Well Nat, let's see here. Have you noticed any sort of symptoms lately? Coughing, fever, headache shortness of breath, general malaise?" He asked.

Natalie was silent for a few long moments. She had seen this coming from a mile away the second the word 'asbestos' reached her ears. She sighed and nodded.

"The general malaise and headaches ring a bell," she replied.

Stephen nodded.

"How long?" He asked.

"A couple of days, maybe a week," she replied. "I thought it was just fatigue."

"Okay, well, let's see what we've got to work with," Stephen said professionally.

If he was going to get personal now, he knew he would start laughing and the cat would be out of the bag. Stephen quickly got around to checking Natalie's pulse and blood pressure. After a thorough examination that left Natalie just a little bit ruffled and uncomfortable, Stephen sat back in the chair and noted some things in the chart. He pulled out a vial, tourniquet and needle, ready to draw some blood.

"Now that you're sick I have to do this myself," he chuckled. "I'll be gentle, I promise."

He grinned and quickly tied the tourniquet, drawing the samples that he needed. Okay, the samples that she would think he needed. With that, Stephen stood up and left the room. He walked into Eva's room, handing the blood off to Frank, and sat down. He went through the same motions with her and got the same reaction. After Stephen had finished everything he walked into Miles' room where the young man was getting dressed. Stephen laughed and sat down on the bed.

"Mission accomplished. Now all we have to do is sit around and drink coffee until enough time passes for it to be convincing that we actually ran the screens instead of just tossing the blood out with the rest of the biohazards to be incinerated," he stated.

"You do know that they're going to physically bludgeon us to death once they figure out they were quarantined needlessly," Miles deadpanned.

"It'll be worth it," Stephen said firmly. "Trust me, it will."

Miles nodded and finished buttoning the last button on his shirt. Stephen stood up and the two men walked down the hallway to get some coffee. They sat in the break room and Frank came in, stripping off his hazmat suit. He sat down with them and poured himself some coffee.

"Natalie and Eva really aren't happy right now," he said lightly. "You guys are so dead."

"Scared, Frank?" Miles asked.

"Damn right I'm scared," he replied. "You should be, too. Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn."

The men laughed and drank their coffee for a couple of hours, doing nothing of importance, as they waited for the "toxicology reports" to come back. After a long while, Stephen stood up and stretched, putting his gown, gloves and mask on again.

"Alright then, let's go and quarantine the ladies," he chuckled.

Miles headed to his office to do some reading while Stephen and Frank headed for the isolation rooms. Frank lingered outside as Stephen stepped in to see Natalie first. He walked over to her bedside and looked down at her, sitting there, disgruntled and worried looking. He grinned inwardly.

"Well Nat, I'm sorry to say it but I have to quarantine you. You've been exposed, you have a low number of the asbestos antibodies. I have to keep you in here until the incubation period is up. If you're asymptomatic at the end of that, you're free to go, but in the meantime I'm going to need to keep a close eye on you," Stephen said apologetically.

Natalie buried her face in her hands, sighing exasperatedly.

"Great, just what I needed," she growled. "I have patients, Stephen. I have studies to do. I can't be in quarantine for a week."

"Not up to me, Nat, you know its protocol," Stephen said lightly. "Besides, if it was me in your shoes, you would be saying the same thing. Now, you just get some rest. I'll be back later to check on you."

By the time Stephen left Natalie's room, Miles was back in isolation, making things look less conspicuous. They had decided to let Eva go free and if she saw Miles up and about then she would know that something was screwy. No, Miles would have to suffer for the good of humanity. Stephen entered Eva's room and took off all of his protective gear, smiling.

"Well Eva, you're free to go," he said warmly. "Get dressed. We'll need you working PR overtime to keep this under wraps. It wouldn't look good if news of an asbestos epidemic in the NIH building got out."

Eva nodded, relieved. She waited until Stephen left before stripping out of her gown and putting her clothes back on. Eva left the room and gasped when she realized that they had quarantined Natalie. This definitely wasn't going to end well. The situation was dire and Eva felt the need to take one for the team and put an end to the nonsense of the prank war. She walked up to Stephen and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned to face her, she reached out a hand to shake his.

"Okay, truce," she stated. "We can't think about whom the top pranksters are when the lives of two of our teammates are on the line. Do we have a truce?"

Stephen took her hand and shook it with a nod.

"Truce," he replied.

Eva smiled and walked away. Stephen waited until she was out of hearing range before he laughed out loud. Oh, how naïve she was. Stephen couldn't believe she had actually fallen for that! Truce? Over his dead body. No, this was just the beginning.

He couldn't _wait_ to see Eva's reaction when she realized all of this was a hoax. He couldn't wait to see how they would retaliate. It was going to be classic.

* * *

_A.N.: Hey guys! I'm so terribly sorry this one took so long! I was extremely caught up with final exams and projects at school, and I just started a full time summer job. Please tell me what you think! -Jules-_


	8. Acting

**Chance**

Chance favors the prepared mind. Can the NIH team handle each other when an April Fools day prank-a-thon goes larger than life? Please review!

Disclaimer: We do not own Medical Investigation. Seriously.

Chapter 8: Acting

And oh, did they find out.

After the second day of quarantine, Natalie noticed strange behavior in Stephen. His inability to look at her and keep a straight face at the same time, and his mocking smiles. So, on the third night she snuck out of the room with one of her own blood samples and made her way quickly to the lab. Then and there she found out, no saw, that not only was _her _blood clean but Miles' was as well.

Not caring what time of night it was, Natalie whipped out her phone and called her friend. Eva didn't sound to happy answering her phone at 2:00 in the morning. Natalie wasted no time, "Get down here now!"

Twenty minutes later both women were standing in Natalie's hospital room talking and fuming. "It's fake, not asbestos at all. I checked." She was pacing and looking down at her hospital gown, mentally pledging to kill both Stephen and Miles. Not without torturing them first.

Eva herself was mad, she had made a truce with the enemy on false lines.

They had to beat them.

"I have and idea," Natalie said merrily, looking at her hospital gown again, but with a different feeling in mind.

**Next day.**

"Stephen," Eva shouted ripping out of her office and stopping just before she ran into him, "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry!"

Even if he didn't know what was going on, Stephen's stomach dropped. This couldn't be good. Did they find out? Was this some ploy to corner him in a room and beat him to death with a respirator? "Sorry for what, Eva?"

Eva looked around frantically looking more then ready to cry. "There was a leak to the press. They know about our quarantine and it's going to be in the news tonight!"

Stephen's stomach did more then just a little dropping this time, it lurched. This was not good. The press was getting ready to give out a fake news story. Not that they knew it was fake, but fake all the same. He would have to tell Natalie the truth about her nonexistent condition before it was too late and somebody else did. Turning to Eva he hesitated, "Don't worry about it." He would have more to fear then the news...Natalie's wrath was a sure thing to come.

Eva nodded and walked down the hall, turning the corner she smiled. He bought it. Now it was up to Natalie's theatric skills to pull through with the next part of the prank.

On the way to Natalie's hospital room Stephen ran into Frank, who looked more worried then usual, near scared. Looking at his friend Stephen fought the urge to ask him what was going on. Shaking his head he continued down the hall.

Natalie saw him coming before he even saw her. Praying that Eva's make-up job was a believable one, she allowed her eyes to droop halfway shut and acted as if her breathing was labored. It was time to get serious.

Stephen entered the room.

Pretending to be dazed, Natalie ignored his slow movements to her bedside. She could tell, though, that they were hesitant and unsure. "Natalie," He started but stopped instantly.

Knowing that he had gotten a good look at her, she had to stop from smiling. She felt his large hand grab hers, "Nat?" Without answering she allowed her arm to go limp, her eyes drooped close even more. His hand moved from her hand to her wrist, checking her pulse. The labored breathing must have changed her heartbeat because he grabbed her hand again, "Natalie, can you hear me?"

She let out a violent cough and moaned, tilting her head to look at him. Tears streamed down her eyes, more from the effect of trying desperately not to laugh, but Stephen jumped to the conclusion that they were tears of pain.

Fear filled his eyes, just like it had in Frank's when she tested her act on him, standing up he pulled out his phone and called someone. Natalie showed little interest in his movements and let her eyes close, her limp arm sliding off the bed. Even if she couldn't see him, she could hear him. "Miles, I need your help now! Something is seriously wrong with Nat. Now, our prank is over with. I don't care if they find out, her life means more to me then laughs. Okay."

It was working.

**Meanwhile:**

"We believe that the asbestos has infected our staff," Eva said to the fake crowd of reporters, who were all in fact just close friends of hers. But if either Stephen or Miles walked out neither would know the difference. And Miles was out there, acting frantic.

Hoping that her friends had remembered their lines she allowed them to shout various fake questions at her before pointing to one. "Ma'am, could you tell us if this is a hazard to the people of Washington?"

Giving a fake sigh, Eva shrugged, "As far as we know it is only in the building, one of our doctors has fallen ill and we believe that she is the only one."

A few believable questions and answers later, Eva turned away and walked back into the building. Miles followed her. Turning to him she shoved her finger into his chest, "I can't believe you guys! You pulled a prank on us and Natalie actually ends up being sick. You need some mental help! Now I have to play along with the press and make them think this thing will get rid of itself!" She stormed away from him and walked quietly into Natalie's room.

Both Stephen and Frank were in there, she couldn't tell Natalie anything until they were alone. Right now she would have to play along. Giving a sad look she walked over to her friend's bedside. Noting that extremely worried look on Stephen's face and the sad look on Frank's.

Her make-up job had been a good one. Natalie looked ten times paler then usual and the yellow glow on her cheeks and red rimmed eyes made her look even worse. She looked like she was in a deep sleep, giving a small painful moan in various believable moments.

Stephen looked at her and shook his head, "When we started this prank we didn't think she was actually sick. When she told me her symptoms I just thought she was being a hypochondriac, I-I"

Eva shot him a glare and moved closer to Natalie's bed side. "How could you think that that was funny, locking her in this room for three days?" She glared at him before leaving, shooting Miles the same look as they entered the room. Eva would have to wait until later that night when they were gone to talk to Natalie about the rest of the prank. She also had to distribute the fake Newspapers, which were in her locker.

Natalie herself had a hell of a time trying to pretend to be asleep and not laugh at the same time. She did, however, get some relief when she felt someone touching her arm. Opening her eyes halfway, she looked at her visitor. It was Miles and he was hooking her up to a machine. Shoot, they were going to see her vital signs. He looked at her and smiled wearily, "How are you feeling?"

"Like hell froze over then melted again," She croaked.

Miles nodded sadly and motioned to her arm, "Stephen wanted me to take a sample of your blood."

Another shoot, they wouldn't find anything if they looked at it. Not unless Eva could switch her blood with that of an infected one. Natalie didn't answer and pretended to fall into another tired sleep. She could hear Miles sigh, "I'm so sorry, Nat." He whispered before taking the sample and leaving.

Ten minutes after he left, Eva entered smiling. "It's just me. Shifts over and they're leaving. Unwillingly but I managed to tell them that I would call them if anything happened. Well, most of them are leaving. Stephen's sleeping in his office."

Natalie opened her eyes and smiled as Eva drew the blinds on the windows. "Alright, what I need you to do is switch my blood sample with one of our last patients in the most recent case." Eva nodded. When you do that come back. We need to talk about tomorrow.

Eva laughed before leaving, "You bet we do." She watched as Natalie faked sleep again and quickly shut the door. After a few steps she ran into Stephen. "I thought you were asleep." She was startled more then anything.

"I was," He said lightly. "But I woke up, I think I'm going to go look at her blood sample."

Her eyes grew wide and her heart nearly burst in her chest, "NO!" He looked at her strangely, "I mean, Natalie was just awake and she wants to talk to you."

He looked at her for a minute before nodding and heading for their friend's room. Eva had to stop herself from chuckling, he still had the 'L' on his forehead. Turning around quickly she headed for the lab. She would have to make this quick. Natalie wouldn't like her little surprise visit.

The switch went fairly well, except that Eva tripped over a cord and dropped Natalie's actual blood sample. And, in a hurry she grabbed the blood of a patient who was suffering from small pox and a mild case of herpes. Oops. That would give Stephen a rather nasty shock when he looked at them.

Tearing out of the room before she could get caught, Eva made her way down the hall. Stopping at Natalie's room she squared her shoulders and walked in. Damn it! He was still there. And Natalie looked almost panicked. Which made her pale skin paler and her red eyes redder. Stephen was wearing gloves...and was checking her pulse. Eva figured that Natalie's labored breathing wasn't acting at all. She was nervous!

Natalie gave Stephen a perfect weak smile, "I'm fine," Her voice made her sound anything but it.

He looked at her disbelievingly and finally nodded. Turning to Eva he whispered, "Tell me if anything else happens to her." He left the room.

Natalie waited until he was down the hall before talking, "I know this is all fake but his concern touches me." Both woman started laughing.

"What's your plans for tomorrow?" Eva asked sitting down.

Her companion smirked, "You are about to get a lesson on our dear medical machine here."

**Next Day:**

Miles held up a newspaper and nearly screamed, "It's all over the news!"

The newspaper was, of course, one of Eva's fake ones. Hiding a triumphant smile, Eva ripped it out of his hands, "It wouldn't have been if you buffoons hadn't of pulled the prank in the first place!"

"She has a point," Frank said looking at the two.

All three were walking down the hall. Stephen had broken away from the group twenty minutes ago to go check the blood samples. They could see his blonde head through the lab window. Walking past his door they all jumped when they all heard a loud thud and, "I can't believe this is happening. Shit!" He had obviously found out what was in the samples.

Eva looked at the two men and shrugged, they didn't have enough time to respond. Stephen came charging out of the door at the speed of light. Muttering something that sounded a lot like, "herpes, small pox? What the hell has that woman been doing?"

Miles looked at Frank who looked as startled as him. Eva just followed the muttering man, knowing very well where he was going. This would be hilarious.

It was, upon walking into the room all four were greeted with a paler, and redder Natalie. In the middle of the night Eva had applied more make-up, giving Natalie a nasty looking rash. It actually looked believable. Stephen instantly put a mask on his face and looked at her.

"Oh my god!" Miles had finally gotten a look at her, "It looks like she got in a fight with poison ivy."

"Worse," Stephen said sadly, "small pox."

Frank, having realized that it was strange that they're latest case had been small pox looked at Eva. Now he knew it was only a prank. Eva gave him a look saying she would kill him if he told them. He nodded reluctantly, "How long do you think she has?"

"I don't know," Stephen said choking.

Eva made her way around to the monitor, Natalie right on cue opened her eyes, gave a painful moan, and went limp again. Eva pressed a few buttons and the machine started beeping. Telling the doctors that Natalie was now coding.

The scene in front of her was hilarious. Stephen and Miles started freaking out, and Frank just glared at Eva. Natalie who was holding her breath started turning red. Which only made Stephen and Miles freak out more. They tired everything in the book even the defibrillator, which Natalie had manipulated the night before, making it seem like it was working, but in all reality it was only making the noise.

Eva watched as, unbeknownst to the other three, Natalie took small breaths. The machine kept signaling that her heart had failed and that her brain activity was gone.

Giving up, Stephen grabbed his face and leaned against her bed grabbing her hand. Miles just looked like he was in a daze. Frank remained glaring at Eva.

A soft noise filled the room; Eva who was shaking realized that Natalie was laughing. Laughing hard. Stephen's jaw dropped and he dropped her hand like it was a snake. Miles just stared. Eva joined in the laughter.

Sitting up, Natalie rubbed at her tear stained eyes turning to Stephen she grinned, "Aww, it looks like you've seen a ghost."

Stephen just shook his head and stormed away.

Girls: 4 Guys: 4

* * *

_A.N.: Way to go Syd! That was awesome! Woohoo! Alright guys, as Jules, I promise to update SOONER this time! -Jules and Sydney-_


End file.
